Description

Worn and signed during training for Rome Olympics

1960 Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) Training Worn & Signed
Boxing Trunks. A Gold Medal in the Light Heavyweight division
of the 1960 Rome Olympics transformed this eighteen year-old phenom
from local Louisville hero into the sport's top contender, setting
course for a 1964 meeting with Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston
and the first of three title belts. Presented is a seminal artifact
from Muhammad Ali's rise to greatness, a pair of trunks worn in
training at the Louisville gym where the most famous boxer that
ever lived learned his trade.

Ali historians are well aware that young Cassius Clay got his start
in the sport when his bicycle was stolen and a helpful policeman
filing the report named Joe Martin convinced him to turn his
youthful aggression toward a positive athletic pursuit. This red
and gold pair of trunks was part of the young fighter's training
wardrobe at the Columbia Street Gym in Louisville, and was later
displayed in the gym's trophy case to inspire other young boxers to
follow Ali's world-beating example.

The "Post" brand trunks are notated with a simple vintage
"CC" at rear interior waistband and exhibit heavy use from
the long path from anonymity to immortality. A vintage ink
inscription on front makes a gift of the trunks to gym employee
Perry Knox: "To Perry, Your Friend, Cassius Clay 1960." The
ink competes for contrast against the red satin fabric, but rates a
technical 7/10. The original Columbia Gym museum typed
identification tag remains affixed at waistband.

Gear from the man named the "Sportsman of the Century" in
Sports Illustrated magazine's accounting of twentieth
century athletics is fiercely coveted by the collecting
marketplace, but those few relics dating to Ali's rise to
prominence are particularly scarce and desirable. Rarer still are
those pieces both worn and autographed by Ali, elevating this
offering to the pinnacle of this competitive collecting subgenre.
Letter of provenance from Jole Martin (daughter of Joe Martin).
LOA from Craig Hamilton, JO Sports. LOA from Heritage
Auctions.